Maps in the American experience at Winterthur

Winterthur has an exhibition that offers a look at the role of maps in early American society. “Common Destinations: Maps in the American Experience” is running now through January 5, 2014. Shown here is a fan by Jean Lattre, Paris, 1779-80. Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont. 1965.

Just as there is a whole generation that is clueless about how to use phone booths and rotary phones, there will soon be a generation that has no idea how to read a map. If you have a GPS and/or a smartphone where you can access Mapquest, why do you have to know how to read a map?

In the 20th century and in a smaller degree in the 21st century, maps have been primarily used as tools to help people reach their destinations. In the 18th and 19th centuries they were keys to the American experience and became the social glue that bound a young nation into a community.

Winterthur has an exhibition that offers a look at the importance and the roles in society of these early maps. “Common Destinations: Maps in the American Experience” is running now through January 5, 2014 at the scenic museum in northern Delaware.

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The new exhibition takes visitors on a trip through the centuries that included the American Revolution and decades of nation building. During this period, maps which were once rare collectibles evolved to become part of everyday life.

“Common Destinations: Maps in the American Experience” features selections from Winterthur’s fascinating collection of traditional maps on paper as well as map-related objects such as printed handkerchiefs, ceramics and geographic playing cards.

The story of maps in the American experience is told through six themes, starting with “Sociable Maps: Parlors and Pubs.” In this time period, maps became popular conversation pieces with which Americans debated current affairs or explored their knowledge of the world.

The second theme — “Indoors/Outdoors: Men and Their Maps” — shows how maps played a major role in the personal lives of American men. They shaped reading and writing activities and were part of everyday outdoor activities, including traveling and land-surveying.

The next theme is “Maps in a Woman’s World.” It illustrates how maps were important to American women’s lives in many ways — as a teaching tool, as needlework and embroidery themes and as fashionable accessories when used as handkerchiefs and fans.

The fourth theme “Before the Revolution: Science, Pictures, and Baroque Maps” is set in the 18th century and shows how the aesthetics of maps became just as important as the accuracies of the geography.

The next theme — “The National Map: 1784–1815” — depicts how one of the biggest contributions of maps after the Revolutionary War was building a sense of community among a young nation that spent decades with political uncertainty. Maps were no longer imported from abroad but were replaced with first-generation domestic maps that illustrated national unity.

The final theme is “Maps and Masses: Cartography in the Industrial Age.” The application of machine-made paper and lithography during the 1830s made a highly diversified commodity out of maps that were fashioned to meet the needs of national and international audiences.